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Getting information from the police

  • This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by Bungle_52.
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  • May 25, 2025 at 2:38 pm #1150387
    the little onion

    Given that a regular topic of conversation on this forum is about how the police refuse to divulge information, I thought I’d share a few tips that I’ve found (sometimes) work in getting information on your case

    I have two basic assumptions:

    1. Whilst many police officers are good, sound, if at times overworked within clumsy systems, there are also those who are lazy, incompetent, and that actively hate cyclists. You don’t know which you are going to get.

    2. The purpose of the police appeals process is, I’m afraid, to make the police look good and bury bad news, rather than to actually solve issues and improve policing. Part of this is that there is nothing the police like less than admitting they got something wrong. 

    So, if you have requested information, e.g. outcome of a case, and you are struggling to get it, here are a few tips.

    -if a crime has been lodged (i.e. you have a crime number), then there are stronger rules about keeping victims informed, under the Victims’ Code of Practice. Play this card, it’s a strong one. Unfortunately it doesn’t apply to many instances where you are not deemed a ‘victim of crime’, e.g. many road traffic collisions. 

    -You can appeal a police decision not to divulge information about something. If the police phone you in response, either record the coversation or write contemporaneous notes and email them back to the officers involved ASAP. Otherwise – and I’ve learned this the hard way, several times – they will deny they said things that they clearly said, or you find that their version of what you said differs from reality quite substantially. In particular, you may find yourself surprised that you agreed that the issue was resolved!

    -If not satisfied with the response to the appeal, you can escalate this to the office of the Policing and Crime Commissioner. 

    -CyclingUK, if massively overworked, are good at dealing with the police, and can support you.

    -Generally, assume that if a police officer says the words “GDPR” or such like, assume they are talking nonsense. It’s a technique to get you to go away, 99% of the time, rather than something that corresponds to actual GDPR regulations.

    -If it is data about you, e.g. how your close-pass submissions were processed, you could try a Subject Access Request/Right of Access Request, which allows you to ask for data that the police have on you. I’ve tried this, and it frankly takes ages to process, and I’m still awaiting my data. I’m not in a position to let you know whether this works or not.

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  • May 28, 2025 at 11:13 am #1153919
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    Bungle_52

    In Gloucestershire I have

    In Gloucestershire I have been told the outcomes (disposals) for all of my OpSnap reports that I have asked for. They now tell me if the outcome is NFA, advisory letter or will take action a few days after the report was submitted. I then wait 12 months to find what action has been taken for the “will take action” ones.

    The reason I wait 12 months is that after my first report to OpSnap I was told that they would not routinely update me on the outcome. When you make a report you are told to to keep the original files for 12 months so I waited 12 months and then emailed with the incident no and asked them to confirm that I could delete the files and if they could let me know the outcome. It worked and I’ve stuck to 12 months ever since.

    Getting stats on OpSnap is a different story. I’ve asked for a summary to be publshed regularly as they promised to do when they started usng Op Snap but this hasn’t happend and I’ve been told to submit FOI requests to get the data.

    Here are my first two attempts. It’s like getting blood out of a stone.


    I would like to request the following information for OpSnap reports from cyclists to
    Gloucestershire Constabulary in 2024;

    1) Number of submissions made via the portal, broken down by month, where the
    response to the mandatory question “At the time of this incident I was…” was “At the time of this incident I was a cyclist” on the Opsnap form.

    2) The disposal for each of these reports giving the date, the nature of the report (eg. close pass), the disposal and any reasons for NFA.

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 s1, I can confirm that Gloucestershire
    Constabulary may hold some relevant information.

    Unfortunately, it is not possible to electronically search for the information requested regarding the mandatory question of “At the time of this incident I was…” was “At the time of this incident I was a cyclist”. To identify and retrieve the requested information, a manual review of all opsnap records would be required.

    This would involve the review of hundreds of records and would therefore take far longer than the 18 hours prescribed by the Freedom of Information Act

     


    I would like to request the following information for OpSnap reports to Gloucestershire
    Constabulary from 01/01/2024 to 31/12/2024;
    1) The total number of reports

    2) The following details for each report :

    a) The date of the report or the month in which the report was made if this is not possible,

    b) yes/no for whether the reporter was a cyclist or The mode of transport of the reporter or if this is not possible

    c) The disposal or result of the report (eg NFA, advisory letter, warning letter, education course, points and fine)

    d) A brief description of the alleged offence eg “close pass” , if this is possible

    e) Any reason for NFA, if this is possible

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 s1, I can confirm that Gloucestershire
    Constabulary holds some relevant information.

    Enquiries have been made with the relevant area of the organisation in order to furnish your request. The information within this response has been provided to me by them and therefore where information is not available I have not been able to provide this. Please see below the information I have been provided in response to your request.

    1 1,427
    2 a) Information not available
    b) 353 reports were made by cyclists
    c) Due Care/Inconsiderate = 230

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